Representing Data in ARIS: which diagram type to use

Hi Hanna,

the ARIS method provides different possibilities to model data. It depends a little bit on which abstraction level you want to model data. For example, if you just want to create some kind of vocabulary of business terms used in your company, you would probably go for technical terms model. On the other hand, if you are interested in providing detailed data definitions to be used in an IT implementation, you might consider to use UML class diagrams.

To give you an overview, the following main data objects are available in ARIS. The list starts with the most abstract one going down to the most concrete (i.e. near to implementation one):

• technical term
• cluster
• entity
• class

In any case, take a look at the belonging diagrams and evaluate which notation fits best for your use case. You can always generate a detailed report from each kind of diagram. There are already some reports shipped with ARIS to output model information, but you can also create your own reports if you need more specific information.

Cheers,

Sebastian

In answer to the specific questions you ask:

1) to show from where data comes into the report: if you are wanting to show data moving from a source to a target environment the best diagrams for that are either the Access Diagram or Program Flow chart. Both of these allow you document data movement depending on the level of detail (PFC is more detailed). If this is not what you were looking for here, please clarify the question and I'll try again.

2) what data/fields the report contains: Technical Terms is the best for this I think. It can show both content and data used in calculations.

3) Connect data to other entities: again, Technical Terms. I have successfully used the Technical Terms model to create a where used map that connects a business term (Technical Term) to all of the places it is used, in the data model, in transaction databases in DW databases, etc.

Rick

Hi Sebastian,

Thank you for your quick reply.

1). Answering your question what for we need the data representation and to which level of details, I would say that we need everything:). For business people we need a kind of highlevel view on available data. But then finally we need more detailed level for IT project (so  it can be handled and processed by developers and other more technical people). For this 'IT' level it is more or less understandable that we can have entities with attributes and relationships which later can be mapped to database). But how to build a business level structure and to drill down then is not clear.

There is a symbol called 'cluster' (ex. in ERM diagram) and using it it is possible to build some grouping of data in a very simple way. But I do not see any added value in it. In this way you can just make is list of data with simple bullets in word document. So I think we miss a knowledge in this part and I was not able to find an answer in some aris books and aris help.

2). You also offer to use available diagrams and choose a notation. And this is another part with which I struggle with. Do you know maybe where is it possible to find a samples of diagrams? The list of symbols  which belong to this or that diagram in ARIS help is not really helpful if you do not have the experience of using it. The description of symbols are not 'real-to-world' and very abstract so when it comes to using them, it is not so productive. It would so much easier if there was a sample of diagram, so it would give a simple overview how to user a diagram.  Do you have any suggestion how to have have such a possibility? 

Thanks again for your answer. Hope the message does not sound frustrating. We'll get there:) 

Hi Rick,

Thank you for your reply and suggestions.

1). I checked these two types of diagrams that you have mentioned. Access Diagram has the types of symbols that I need to use (applications and entities symbols). Now I need to figure out how to fit it all. So that's I will try to do by trial and error (just in case you know any examples of this type of diagram open to public in the internet, please let me know, my search did not help).

2). I tried to imagine how to represent a report and tied it to data using technical term. Let's say there is an entity that has attributes. One of these attributes is inserted into report with some label. So in my understanding the label is 'techinical term' and the value of the label is attribute. This was my idea, but apparently you cannot connect attribute to a technical term symbol. So this is not possible. 

And one more question, which type of diagram would you advice to use for representing reports in the system.

Thank you again for your time and help.

Hanna

Hi Hanna,

if you really need all (from high level business data down to technical data structures), I guess you won't be able to do everything in one diagram. Instead, you will have to create at least 2 data architectures: one for business and one for IT. Of course both architectures are not independent from each other, but mapped.

Consider the following example. You might have a business object like "purchase order". This object would be located on a conceptual modelling leve. You would use a cluster to represent it. Below, you might have a logical description of a purchase order. Here, you would specify, which attributes a purchase order must have. You can use eERM, IE Data Model or UML Class diagram for this purpose. Finally, you will have several different implementations of a purchase order, for example one in your old legacy business system and one in your shiny new SAP application. The purchase order has different structures in those systems. Different data types might be used to represent the attributes of a purchase order. Therefore, you need a physical data model. Here, UML Class Diagrams come in handy, because you can use different stereotypes to annotate classes and attributes with platform specific details.

Regards,

Sebastian